Time quietly slipped away as Sū Mùyán worked with intense focus. In the control room, only the sounds of his keyboard typing, touchpad sliding, and occasional brief, professional exchanges with the sound engineer remained. The impromptu melody, carrying his complex emotions, was gradually taking shape under his meticulous refinement. Every minute adjustment of a note, every increase or decrease in reverb, consumed his entire attention. He was completely immersed in the world constructed by the music, almost forgetting the small, quiet figure sitting behind him on the chair.
Running around is a child's nature. Xīngxing was well-behaved at first. She hugged her stuffed rabbit, curled up on a chair far too large for her, her short legs dangling and swaying gently in the air. She watched her older brother's back, the blinking indicator lights, and listened to the conversations she didn't understand and the faint hum of the equipment. As the novelty slowly wore off, boredom began to set in. She tried playing with her rabbit, whispering stories to it, but the control room was too quiet, and she didn't dare make much noise. She looked out the window; the bustling traffic below looked like moving little boxes, and it became monotonous after a while. Her gaze, almost involuntarily, was repeatedly drawn to the large glass wall on the other side of the control room. Behind the glass wall was the room her older brother had sternly warned her about. It was still empty and silent. The shiny silver "big mushroom" (microphone) gleamed invitingly under the soft light. There seemed to be a piece of paper on the music stand, with many "little tadpoles" (musical notes) she couldn't understand drawn on it. It didn't look... scary? Why wouldn't older brother let her go in? A child's curiosity, like a vine, quietly spread and grew, nourished by silence and boredom.
Her older brother was working with complete concentration and seemed to have no idea she was there. A daring thought popped into her little head: What if... what if she just went in to take a peek? She'd come out quickly, and older brother wouldn't notice. Once the thought appeared, it became irresistible. She secretly glanced at Sū Mùyán. He was wearing headphones, his brow furrowed, staring intently at the audio waveforms on the screen, his fingers moving rapidly, completely engrossed.
The opportunity seemed to have arrived. Xīngxing carefully, like a kitten preparing to sneak out, slowly slid down from the high chair. Her movements were light, making almost no sound. Clutching her stuffed animal, she tiptoed, step by step, towards the thick soundproof door leading to the "forbidden zone." The door was unlocked. Perhaps Sū Mùyán never expected her to dare go in, or perhaps his habitual focus while working made him overlook it. Xīngxing reached out her small hand and gently, slowly pushed the door open. The door hinges emitted a faint "creak," but in the quiet environment, it sounded exceptionally clear. Startled, she paused and nervously looked back at Sū Mùyán. He seemed to sense something, his movements halting slightly, but he was adjusting a critical audio track, his concentration highly focused. He instinctively dismissed it as equipment noise or his imagination, and didn't look back to check. Xīngxing breathed a sigh of relief, her heart pounding, a mix of fear and excitement. She slipped into the recording studio and quietly closed the door.
The recording studio was eerily quiet. The sound-absorbing materials swallowed all echoes, making even her own breathing seem exceptionally clear. She stood in the center of the room, curiously examining her surroundings. The walls were soft, covered with perforated material, and the carpet felt plush underfoot. Her gaze finally settled on the Neumann U87 microphone standing there. It looked so beautiful, so smooth, shimmering with a captivating metallic luster in the light. She couldn't resist reaching out her small hand, wanting to touch the shiny "big mushroom." Just as her fingertips were about to touch the pop filter.
"Xīngxing!" A furious shout, a mixture of shock and anger, thundered behind her like a bolt of lightning! It was Sū Mùyán's voice, filled with an extreme level of shock and rage she had never heard before! Xīngxing shivered all over, startled. She yanked her hand back and turned around in terror. Sū Mùyán had somehow taken off his headphones and stood up abruptly from the console, his face ashen, his eyes seeming to spew fire. He had clearly seen her enter the recording studio and attempt to touch the microphone through the control room glass. That microphone was expensive, one of his favorite pieces of equipment, and a line he would not tolerate being crossed during his work!
He rushed to the studio door in a few strides and flung it open violently. The sudden movement created a gust of wind, knocking over a cup of water he had placed on the edge of the console when he stood up in haste. "Crash—Splash—!" The cup overturned, and icy cold water spilled out, some splashing onto the edge of the console, but more flowed down, heading directly towards a portable audio interface in standby mode with its indicator light still on, and the laptop connected to it, which was currently reading data from its hard drive! "Damn it!" Sū Mùyán's pupils contracted. Forgetting Xīngxing for the moment, he lunged to rescue the equipment. He fumbled, pulling tissues to wipe, unplugging cables, and checking the computer... Fortunately, most of the water had spilled onto the desktop and the equipment's outer casing, seemingly without causing an immediate short circuit. The computer screen was still on, but his heart sank. The unsaved demo project file he had been painstakingly refining! He immediately reached for the laptop, his fingers trembling slightly from anger and the lingering fear. He quickly manipulated the mouse, clicking the save button. The screen flickered suddenly, and then, to Sū Mùyán's despairing gaze, the control software froze without warning, followed by an error message box popping up! The project file... lost?
He tried repeatedly to recover it, but the melody, upon which he had poured his heart and soul, capturing subtle emotions, and which had yet to be named, seemed to have evaporated and disappeared with the spilled water. An uncontrollable surge of anger, mixed with the heartache of wasted effort and the worry of equipment damage, instantly overwhelmed Sū Mùyán's reason. He spun around, his eyes bloodshot, fixing on Xīngxing, who was still frozen in the middle of the recording studio, her little face pale and her whole body trembling. "Who let you in!" he roared, his voice distorted by extreme rage, echoing in the silent recording studio, making eardrums tingle. "Didn't I tell you! You absolutely cannot come in here! You absolutely cannot touch anything!" He pointed to the messy water stains on the floor and the terrified Xīngxing, every word squeezed out from between his teeth: "Look what you've done! Do you know how expensive this stuff is? Do you know that the music I just made is gone?"
Xīngxing was completely stunned by his unprecedented fury. She had never seen anyone get so angry before, especially this unfamiliar older brother. Overwhelming fear doused her from head to toe like ice water. She opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound, only tears streaming down her face like broken strings of beads. Her small body shook like a leaf in the wind, and the stuffed rabbit in her arms fell to the floor. Looking at her older brother's fiery eyes, she felt as if he were a monster about to devour her. Fear, grievance, regret... a tangle of emotions made her unable to react except to cry.
Sū Mùyán looked at her tear-streaked, trembling form. The anger still burned in his chest, but a very faint pang of worry, similar to when he saw her having a nightmare the previous night, unseasonably resurfaced. But he was in the heat of his anger, and this feeling only made him more agitated. He pointed to the recording studio door and, with the last of his self-control, growled, "Get out! Now! Immediately!"
Xīngxing flinched again from his yell, bursting into tears. Forgetting her stuffed animal, she stumbled, almost crawling, out of the recording studio. She ran back to the control room, retreated under the tall chair, curled herself into a ball, and began to cry with earth-shattering sobs. In the control room, the sound engineer and other staff who had come upon hearing the commotion were deathly silent, exchanging glances, afraid to speak. Sū Mùyán stood frozen, looking at the mess of water stains in the recording studio, at the computer that had luckily not been completely destroyed but had lost its data, and listening to Xīngxing's cries of fear and grievance from the control room, his chest heaving violently. His patience, battered by the destruction of his hard work and the defiance of the rules, had encountered its first severe test, and it seemed... he had failed.